Texans see talent, not youth in QB coach Shanahan

Shanahan makes his age irrelevantTexans see talent, not youth, in their new QBs coach

MEGAN MANFULL, Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Published 5:30 am, Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Photo: BRETT COOMER, CHRONICLE

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Kyle Shanahan takes over as quarterbacks coach this season after serving as receivers coach in his first year with the Texans.

Kyle Shanahan takes over as quarterbacks coach this season after serving as receivers coach in his first year with the Texans.

Photo: BRETT COOMER, CHRONICLE

Texans see talent, not youth in QB coach Shanahan

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Kyle Shanahan has seen the looks of skepticism. Every time such a look creeps onto a player's face, Shanahan just starts talking.

The look starts to fade, and Shanahan, 27, becomes just another NFL coach. It no longer becomes relevant that he is younger than about one-third of the Texans. It no longer matters that he is the youngest position coach in the NFL.

"I remember the first time I sat down with him and we just talked about football, I was real shocked about how much he knew about the game," Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson said. "He knows a lot of about it. ... I'm pretty sure he's been around it his whole life. And I think pretty soon someday he's going to be a head coach."

Johnson expects success to follow Shanahan and so do many others in the Texans' organization. Last season, Shanahan joined the team as the wide receivers coach after two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as their offensive quality control coach.

Like father, like son

This year, he was promoted to quarterbacks coach and will work to help
Matt Schaub
become a solid NFL starter. It's a different type of role for Shanahan, who was a wide receiver at Duke and Texas before going into coaching.

"You're not really going to help them learn how to throw; you're going to help them learn how to see the game," Shanahan said. "If they got here, they can obviously throw. So my job is to help them see the game.

"With receivers, there's only so much they can do. They are not in control of the game. They have to depend on other guys to get them the ball. What made me want to jump to quarterbacks is that they control everything — they have the ball every play and there's always something to coach."

It's also a natural progression up the coaching ranks. His father, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, only coached two positions in the NFL — wide receivers and quarterbacks. The other 20 of his 23 seasons in the NFL have been spent as an offensive coordinator or head coach.

"His dad coached (John) Elway and I when he was 32 years old, and that was young back then," said Texans coach Gary Kubiak, who played for and coached with Mike Shanahan. "But he reminds me of his dad — very tough-minded. For a kid that young, he jumps right in there with us older coaches and battles us on what we believe and what we should be doing and how we should be doing it. And that's what you want."

Kyle Shanahan always realized it was going to be difficult to separate himself from his father. That's why he turned down an offer to join the Broncos' staff a few years ago. He wanted to make it on his own first. In Houston, he is getting that opportunity, and impressing those who are watching him daily.

Endorsement from above

"I don't think age is as important as talent," Texans assistant head coach/offensive coordinator
Mike Sherman
said. "I don't think experience is as important as talent. And he has talent. His talent trumps over any age.

"There are a lot of guys that have been in this league 20-25 years and are doing the same thing over and over again every single year. It doesn't make them any better than a guy who has just come into this league who has a lot of talent, good ideas and is passionate about his job."

It won't be an easy year for Shanahan, though. Kubiak is grooming Shanahan to someday take over an offense of his own, and Kubiak isn't going to take it easy on his protégé.

"Everything I say is going to be challenged because he played it for a while and coached it for a while and coached some great guys," Shanahan said. "So it makes me better because I can never just be talking the talk. I have a guy there that knows. So he's going to keep me in check. Everything that comes out of my mouth better be the right answer because I know someone is right behind me who knows the right answer."